French Open Begins — and Quickly Ends for Ostapenko and Venus Williams

Image

Jelena Ostapenko after being ousted in the first round of the French Open on Sunday. A year ago, she was a surprise champion at the tournament.CreditPascal Rossignol/Reuters

By Filip Bondy

May 27, 2018

PARIS — Jelena Ostapenko is known to swat a tennis ball with wild abandon at any white line, at any moment. That hellbent confidence is what made her the French Open champion in 2017, and what led in large part to her first-round elimination Sunday at Roland Garros against her own, personal Ostapenko-killer.

That opponent would be Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine, who knocked off Ostapenko for the third time in three career meetings, 7-5, 6-3, on Philippe Chatrier. Because of their head-to-head history, the result did not exactly amount to a shock. It did, however, remind everyone that Ostapenko, the 20-year-old Latvian star, is still very much a work in progress, and quite capable of self-sabotage.

“I’m really disappointed and so angry, I want to turn back the time,” she said, somehow laughing at the thought. “I think it was a terrible day at the office today for me. I mean, in general I played maybe like 20 percent of what I can play. Today it didn’t matter who was on the other side. Any player who could hit like five shots back I think probably could beat me today because she was just waiting for me to miss.”

Ostapenko said she suffered a leg injury after the Rome tournament this month, and that she wasn’t 100 percent healthy. But that wasn’t the only reason she faltered.

“I had this unbelievable pressure,” she said. “I felt that I was not myself today. The day began in not a nice way and I knew that something like that can happen. You still try to be positive, but then you lose the match, and of course you can not be positive any more.”

Going for broke, per usual, and playing catch-up throughout, Ostapenko lost her compass in a big way. She double-faulted 13 times in the match, with 48 unforced errors compared to 22 winners. Kozlova simply kept the ball in play long enough for Ostapenko’s implosions — and Kozlova didn’t have to wait very long. Of the 145 points played, 109 were decided on rallies of zero to four shots — a statistic foreign to nearly all women’s matches, and one that would make a giant server like Ivo Karlovic quite proud.

By dropping the 1 hour, 34-minute match with such recklessness, Ostapenko became the first reigning French Open women’s champion since Anastasia Myskina, the 2004 titlist, to lose in the first round the very next year.

Image

Venus Williams during her first-round match on Sunday against China’s Qiang Wang. Williams was unable to advance.CreditChristian Hartmann/Reuters

Kozlova managed to accomplish this victory over the fifth-seeded Ostapenko despite developing an ugly, red blister on the back of her left foot, requiring lengthy treatment from a trainer between sets.

“When you’re playing a match, sometimes you don’t feel the pain,” Kozlova said afterward.

The red clay on Sunday claimed not only its young champion, but also its oldest woman in the draw, Venus Williams, who also attempted an overly aggressive game. There were dire indicators for the 37-year-old Williams, early on, that this was going to be a very long day and a very short tournament. She was broken in a marathon, 12-minute first game, when she netted an easy backhand. She struggled with her first serve in the first set while she bashed groundstrokes, impatiently, wide and long, hoping to end points too quickly against her quality opponent, Qiang Wang of China.

The end result on Suzanne Lenglen was a 6-4, 7-5 exit, marking the first time in Williams’s long career that she had been eliminated in the first round in back-to-back Grand Slam tournaments — at the Australian Open in January, and then here at Roland Garros.

Williams had defeated Wang in the first round of last year’s French Open. On Sunday, she appeared somewhat shellshocked in the post-match interview room, answering questions politely but in terse sentences, deflecting any inquiries about tactics or results.

“There are really no perfect days in tennis,” she said. “You have to be ready to play no matter what. I just want to be my best, that’s all. I like to think I win all my matches if I’m playing well.”

Asked how she might have played differently against Wang’s full-out assault, Williams declined to expand on the matter.

“Differently is win the point,” she said.

Her frustrated coach, David Witt, had some other ideas, however. He felt Williams was often too impatient.

“She’s got to be willing to grind five, six, seven strokes, decide at the right time when to go for it,” Witt said, afterward. “That girl (Wang) is not a clay-court player, either, so it doesn’t bode well for the person trying to hit winners all the time.

“A lot of practice on the red clay, but you go back to your old ways of trying to hit winners,” Witt added. “Embrace the process of building a point. Play defense, a neutralizing shot, see the point when you can attack. You can’t just be so one-dimensional on clay. You win ugly, that’s a great thing.”

Image

Kateryna Kozlova came into the French Open with a modest No. 66 ranking but she nevertheless dispatched the defending women’s champion, Jelena Ostapenko, in straight sets on Sunday.CreditCameron Spencer/Getty Images

Williams’s quick departure is bound to trigger renewed questions about a possible retirement timeline for the seven-time Grand Slam champion, who was last ranked No. 1 in the world 16 years ago. There was no hint of that decision on Sunday. Such a move may well be even less likely now that her sister, Serena, has returned to the tour. The two are scheduled to play doubles at Roland Garros.

“I have five weeks, so I’m going to have to wait,” Venus Williams said, about playing Wimbledon. “Nothing else I can do.’’

While Williams’s appearance was brief and disappointing, 10th-seeded Sloane Stephens had a more uplifting day out on a distant show court, easily defeating Arantxa Rus of Netherlands, 6-2, 6-0.

On her first service game, the left-handed Rus surprised Stephens with 70-miles-per-hour, kick-first serves. That tactic worked briefly, but then Stephens found her rhythm on returns and groundstrokes. Rus, a lucky loser ranked 106th in the world who had been defeated in the final round of qualifying last week, was hopelessly outclassed on baseline rallies. She sprayed her backhands long and wide, managing just two winners with 25 unforced errors. The whole match lasted only 49 minutes.

Stephens missed last year’s French Open because of injury, and can pile up rankings points during this tournament which may well lift her even higher than her current ranking.

Stephens said she wasn’t concerned with such things. She maintained her customary cool on the court as well. Her demeanor at times caused ESPN commentator Chris Evert in January to question whether Stephens had a “burning desire” to win Grand Slam tournaments.

“I guess that’s what keeps them guessing,” Stephens said when asked about that notion. “I’ve had some pretty good results, so it works for me. I like me. I like the way I do things. I just stick with that because I feel best that way.”

In another first-round match, Mohamed Safwat became the first Egyptian player to compete in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament since Tamer El Sawy at the 1996 U.S. Open. As a lucky loser, Safwat was informed just one hour before match time that he would replace Viktor Troicki, a late withdrawal with back problems. Unfortunately for Safwat, he faced fourth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov, who dispatched the Egyptian, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (1).

“I always dreamed to play on center court with such a crowd,” Safwat said. “It was actually fun at the end to play. That’s when I figured out what is happening and what I need.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page D4 of the New York edition with the headline: Ostapenko, Champion a Year Ago, and Venus Williams Depart Early. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe